Green Destiny
by Leighgion
Summary: A more humane contingency plan and a late arrival profoundly change the destiny of the sole survivor of a dead world, as well as that of his adopted one.


**Green Destiny**

by Leighgion

**Prologue**

The light burst suddenly through the trees, stunning and blinding the night walker.

Yet still, she saw.

In her mind's eye, the shadowy foliage of the park became melded with a crystalline landscape both beautiful and cold. A pair of ghostly, indistinct figures approached her through the semi-phantasmal trees. The duo were clad in close garments that were somehow dark yet so brightly luminous as to cut at the eye. The taller and broader of the two bore a shield-like crest on his chest while the smaller had a feminine shape and long reddish tresses.

"Greetings from Krypton," the duo said together with voices culled from the depths of glacial caves.

"I am Jor-El," said the male.

"And I am Lara," said the female, who stepped forward and took the lead. "Our world was an ancient one, old before life upon this world of Terra first left the seas to walk upon land. What you see is projection of a place once special to us that was near our home, superimposed upon your own. Generations shall pass before the light of the event will reach this world, but Krypton is long dead, doomed by the hubris of our leaders. But my husband foresaw the disaster, and contrived to save something of our world."

"We speak to you through the artifice of my ancestor, Kem-El," added the apparition of Jor-El. "Our living selves perished with the rest of our people, but enough of us remains within Kem-El's Legacy that we might approach in this fashion. Not all of Krypton is lost. My wife will explain.

Lara approached closer, and the shape of her face started to come into focus.

"Kem-El's Legacy has divined many things about you. It sees the science of your world has changed you and made you powerful, but robbed from you the touch of your own kind and the rights of womanhood. It senses also you have a deep, abiding care for the well-being of your world that has made you enemies among your own people. Jor-El understands this well, for he too was silenced for pronouncing the doom of Krypton. For these reasons, we ask you to consider an offer.

"Sleeping in stasis nearby is the last son of Krypton - our unborn child. He has traveled far and through many perils to alight upon your world. In time, his Kryptonian blood will make him a giant among your folk, but he needs a mother. Kem-El's Legacy has the arts to place him safely in your womb and give you what you need to properly protect and care for him. If you would accept this charge, we will entrust you also with his only inheritance: Kem-El's Legacy itself.

"The decision is yours to make. It is no light matter before you, and the Legacy will abide by your decision should you refuse, but..."

"But we beseech you to accept," added the apparition of Jor-El, advancing to stand by Lara. "He is the last of our race."

"And he would have been our firstborn..." added the specter of Lara with wistfulness that belied the suggestion her phantom was pure technological artifice.

The night walker, first startled, then shocked into silence, slowly recovered her voice and hesitantly touched a hand to her belly.

"I.. could have a baby?"

"Yes," the ghosts replied in unison.

"The Legacy knows the fear in your mind," said Jor-El, "but it is no cause for concern. Though Kryptonian science can allow you to bear him, he is not of your race and has not your race's frailties."

For a moment, Lara's face seemed to solidify enough to smile proudly.

"My Kal-El is a strong boy, even now."

Tears welled unbidden to the night walker's face, but she smiled. There was no question in her mind.

"Lara, Jor-El.. I'd be honored. I'll take good care of Kal."

With acceptance delivered aloud from the night walker, the two apparitions solidified and came into focus, revealing the smiling faces the very human-seeming silver-haired Jor-El and the lean, ethereal Lara. Together, they delivered the final missive to ensure their son's future.

"Then step into the light, Pamela-Lillian Isley, and wherever you should go, go with our eternal gratitude."


End file.
